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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27732652">Thankfully Yours</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xirayn/pseuds/Xirayn'>Xirayn</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:21:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,507</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27732652</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xirayn/pseuds/Xirayn</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance looks across the room at his husband, a silent conversation passing between them. The pull of Keith's lips remind him they were going to have their own quiet Thanksgiving. A few friends, at most. After a hectic year they deserved it. The crease of Lance’s brow countered that he couldn't just let his parents be alone. Keith huffs and shakes his head, a fond smile conveying his quick concession.</p>
<p>It will be nice to see his in-laws, anyway. The only reason they weren't going to their house for dinner was because Keith's current locum tenens job requires him to be on call. It was just pure fortune that put them within driving distance of friends.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Curtis/Shiro (Voltron), Hunk/Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith/Lance (Voltron), Mentioned Allura/Romelle - Relationship, Veronica/Axca, past Allura/Lotor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Thankfully Yours</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It starts simply enough.</p>
<p>"Don't worry, Mijo, your father and I will just have a simple dinner. It will be nice. Quiet."</p>
<p>Lance looks across the room at his husband, a silent conversation passing between them. The pull of Keith's lips remind him they were going to have their own quiet Thanksgiving. A few friends, at most. After a hectic year they deserved it. The crease of Lance’s brow countered that he couldn't just let his parents be alone. Keith huffs and shakes his head, a fond smile conveying his quick concession.</p>
<p>It will be nice to see his in-laws, anyway. The only reason they weren't going to their house for dinner was because Keith's current locum tenens job requires him to be on call. It was just pure fortune that put them within driving distance of friends.</p>
<p>"Come to our place, Mamá," Lance says into his phone. "You and Dad can stay in the guest room."</p>
<p>Then Rachel's boyfriend breaks up with her instead of taking her to meet his family as planned and there is no way Lance is letting his twin be alone on Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>And she tells Veronica, who invites herself and Axca.</p>
<p>Keith sarcastically suggests they just rent a big house and invite everyone, forgetting how ideas will fester in Lance's head until he's found the perfect place that just happens to be available. He also forgets how weak he is for those blue eyes and the way Lance looks at him when he really wants something but is afraid to press.</p>
<p>So now they are hosting Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Hunk laughs when Keith tells him over video chat, absently moving the baby trying to climb over his shoulder to be tucked safely against his side. She shoves her fist in her mouth and stares through the phone's screen at Keith. Despite having Hunk's coloring, the older she gets the more she looks like her biological father.</p>
<p>"I'll cook," Hunk assures. "I'm sure Rita will help. Maybe I can even get her to divulge some of her secrets."</p>
<p>"Good luck," Keith responds with a chuckle.</p>
<p>A long shift ends with a nearly hour long drive up to a large house on the lake. The drive isn't too bad, but it isn't the fifteen minutes to the townhouse he and Lance are renting that he has become used to. He thinks it might be worth it when he steps through the door. Something about the exposed beams and soft, warm lighting ease away the tension of the day. Mellow beats and ambient tones waft from room to room on the home speaker system. </p>
<p>He finds Lance in the living room contemplating the red and orange flames dancing over the fake logs of the gas fireplace. There is a shadow of worry on his face that the brightness of his smile chases off when he sees Keith. As Keith fits himself into the space by his husband he is offered a glass of golden liquid.</p>
<p>"Ice cider," Lance explains as Keith takes a sip. </p>
<p>It has a concentrated apple sweetness backed by just enough tartness to keep it from being cloying. Keith reaches over Lance to set the glass on the side table and tastes that sweetness on Lance’s lips and tongue.</p>
<p>"Tastes better that way," he murmurs into the space between them. </p>
<p>He delights in the way that Lance pretends to push him away with a playful smirk even after all their years spent together.</p>
<p>Hunk and Pidge arrive the next afternoon with their daughter, Ada. The baby squeals in joy as Lance scoops her up from Pidge's arms and runs his nose against hers. Her chubby little hands try to grasp either side of his face as she puts her mouth, open and sloppy, on his cheek in her version of a kiss.</p>
<p>Happiness radiates from Lance.</p>
<p>"You've gotten so big, Chiquita," he gushes, tickling her side so that she releases his cheek to giggle.</p>
<p>"She has your laugh," Keith comments as he watches on fondly.</p>
<p>"You think?"</p>
<p>Pidge chuckles as she removes her coat. Keith steps forward to take it from her to hang in the closet like a good host.</p>
<p>"She has your taste in music, too," she notes. "On the way over, the only way to get her to stop crying was to put on Shakira."</p>
<p>"That one is on Hunk," Lance counters even as he starts to bounce with Ada in an almost merengue.</p>
<p>"Hey," Hunk defends, "nothing gets you through sleep deprivation like a catchy beat."</p>
<p>Children had been the topic of several late night conversations between Lance and Keith; the kind of conversations couples have in the dark when it seems safe to talk about the future. They had agreed their nearly nomadic lifestyle wasn't suited for raising a family. It was an easy decision for Keith that he knew Lance had struggled with. So when Hunk and Pidge asked Lance to be their donor, it had been an easy decision.</p>
<p>"Speaking of sleep deprivation-" Pidge prompts somewhat cautiously.</p>
<p>"We've got her," Keith assures. He might have been fine with not having a family, but now that he did he wouldn't give them up for the world.</p>
<p>Rachel arrives late that evening. She and Lance have cold pizza from dinner paired with a bottle of wine while she rants about her ex. Keith gives them space by watching cooking shows with Hunk and Pidge.</p>
<p>Hunk takes Lance grocery shopping with Ada in the morning. It is one of those community owned grocery stores where everything is more expensive, but sourced locally and ethically whenever possible. Lance pushes the cart forward and pulls it quickly back, making Ada giggle in delight as Hunk gets what seems like a little bit of every spice and herb in the neatly labeled mason jars.</p>
<p>Ada is tired and fussing by the time they get back. Lance says he'll handle the groceries so Hunk can put her down for a nap.</p>
<p>"Hey, kid," Lance greets the eleven year old he finds sullenly playing a video game in the kitchen, "I thought you were with your dad this year."</p>
<p>"Father got called to an emergency at work," Alfor mutters without looking up. "So here I am."</p>
<p>Lance takes out one of the large cookies they had gotten on a whim and places it by the preteen. Lotor tried to be a good father, he just put his career over his family. It had already cost him his marriage; hopefully he wouldn't let it cost him his son.</p>
<p>"Well, we're happy you're here. Maybe we can team up against Pidge in Mario Party later."</p>
<p>That gets him some attention and a half smile that he knows is more than most people would get.</p>
<p>"Come on, I could use some help with all these groceries."</p>
<p>The house is still that night when Keith returns from his shift. He slips into bed with hands and nose cold from the late November night air. He places them against bare skin that nearly burns from the temperature difference, making Lance gasp and wriggle away.</p>
<p>"Jerk," Lance grumbles sleepily. </p>
<p>"You knew what you were getting when you married me."</p>
<p>Despite his words, Keith is already apologizing with a trail of kisses navigating the range of Lance’s shoulder and neck. A final kiss is pressed to the delicate skin where Lance’s jaw meets his ear before Keith retreats to his side of the bed. They rarely sleep fit together like they used to, but Lance’s foot hooks over Keith's like every night and that is enough.</p>
<p>In the morning, Keith and Allura go for a run. They share a companionable silence as they fill their lungs with clean, crisp air. Frost glitters on the branches and the long dead plants that line the road.</p>
<p>On their way back a series of chipper honks signals Shiro and his fiancée's arrival.</p>
<p>"This is a bad idea," Keith remarks that evening when they move furniture aside in the den.</p>
<p>The smell of sautéed onions and curry powder permeates the air accompanied by the clinking of pans as Hunk cooks. They can hear him talking to his small audience, but aren't able to make out anything that is being said.</p>
<p>Shiro laughs. "What are you talking about? It's a great idea."</p>
<p>With the furniture pushed aside, Alfor takes his place across from Shiro. He's shy and awkward as he goes through the steps. Rachel suggests he do it faster and the preteen blushes even as he gains confidence with the movements of the latest viral dance. It's a lot of fast footwork with a few arm flourishes meant to be done to a hip hop beat.</p>
<p>"Alright, Capt," Curtis urges from his seat in an oversized leather chair, "let's see it."</p>
<p>Shiro makes an admirable attempt, but it mostly just looks like a grown man trying to keep from falling on the ice. Everyone breaks into laughter including Alfor, which was the adult's secret main goal anyway.</p>
<p>"Show me one more time, Al," Rachel says as she gets up. She watches each step with a smirk that would be proof enough she and Lance were twins. "Alright, speed it up."</p>
<p>As Alfor moves faster, she joins in. Each step is matched perfectly to an unheard beat. Music starts with an acoustic guitar keeping a quick, Latin beat for English rapping and Spanish singing. Lance finishes setting the music up on the smart speaker then sets his phone on the mantle and sweeps Rachel into a salsa. He spins her out so that she can grab Alfor to teach him the dance.</p>
<p>"Hunk is making kale moa," Lance informs Keith as he falls into the space beside his husband. He stretches out deliciously, draping himself over and against Keith as his limbs retract. A conspiratorial whisper meant only for the two of them says, "And Allura is texting a woman named Romelle. I haven't seen her smile like that since Lotor."</p>
<p>An acknowledging hum is all Keith gives in response. His fingers lazily brush up and down the small of Lance’s back. The fact Allura was interested in women as well as men had never been a secret. It was never meant to be. The secret was that she still loved Lotor. They had even hooked up a few times after the divorce, but she knew both she and her son deserved better. Keith hoped this Romelle could be that for her.</p>
<p>Rachel's laugh draws their attention. She is showing Alfor how to do a move that spins her out and then in that she swears will impress at the next middle school dance. Alfor just seems smitten.</p>
<p>Coran arrives after dinner to Alfor's excited 'grandpa!'. Ada toddles after him to be happily scooped up with one of the older gentleman's arms as he hugs Alfor against his side with the other.</p>
<p>"Quite the warm welcome," Coran chuckles. "Now let grandpa get his coat off, hm?"</p>
<p>The next morning is chaos as the rest of the Serrano Pérez y Inclán family arrives. Marco gets in early with his wife Zoey and their toddler Cookie. She dances with Ada and plays a little too rough, ending with Ada crying and Cookie getting a talk about playing gently with children younger than her. Cookie apologizes and somehow cons Alfor into reading books to her and Ada as the adults clean up after breakfast.</p>
<p>Hunk is essentially teaching a master class on pies to anyone interested when another burst of activity signals Luis's family's arrival. Coats and shoes are shed to calls to come pick them up as Silvio, Nadia, and Anita tear into the house.</p>
<p>Silvio tackles Keith, trying to get him into a hold that Keith easily reverses. He loops his arms under the teens and clasps his hands behind Silvio's neck in an easy full nelson.</p>
<p>"Come on, niño," he taunts his nephew-in-law with a grin, "this should be an easy one."</p>
<p>"Don't hurt my son!" Lisa snaps as she hangs up her own coat. There is no real malice in her voice, though, and an affectionate smile accompanies the shake of her head.</p>
<p>Silvio forces his elbows down as he twists so one leg is behind Keith. He gets a hand behind Keith's leg and is released before he can attempt to execute the throw.</p>
<p>Lance comes over clucking like a disgruntled hen.</p>
<p>"No rough-housing in the rental," he chastises. "Silvio, listen to your mother and go pick up your shoes. Keith-" He looks at Keith's quirked lips and abandons whatever he was about to say with a roll of his eyes. It earns him a quick kiss.</p>
<p>"Have you gotten your blue belt yet?" Keith asks Silvio.</p>
<p>"The test is after the holidays," Silvio responds. He puts his sisters' shoes beside his before gathering their coats. Both girls had made it to the kitchen already as evident by their excited chattering with their Tia.</p>
<p>"Are you helping your sisters practice?"</p>
<p>"Yes, Keith," Silvio sighs, sounding as if the answer was too obvious to be answered.</p>
<p>"Lisa," Keith asks without looking away from Silvio, "are you sure you didn't just clone Lance?"</p>
<p>"Honestly? No."</p>
<p>"Why do you both say that like it's a bad thing?" Lance protests. The only answer he gets is a conspiratorial look passed between the two Serranos-by-marriage.</p>
<p>The smell of fresh baked pies is adding to the warmth of the house by the time Veronica texts Lance. She and Axca had arrived the night before, but treated themselves to a room in a five star hotel so they could enjoy a night on the town before picking up Rita and Miguel from the airport.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Veronica</strong>
</p>
<p>Getting lunch. Mamá also wants to do some shopping before we head over.</p>
<p>
  <strong>Lance</strong>
</p>
<p>Ok</p>
<p>Luis takes over the kitchen to make picadillo for dinner. He recruits Keith and Silvio to dice vegetables, insisting Hunk not lift a finger since he had spent the day prepping for Thanksgiving dinner. Pidge helps by climbing in her husband's lap and insisting that she will cling to him like a koala if he tries to stand.</p>
<p>"You know you weigh practically nothing," Hunk points out. His hand covers almost the entire span of her lower back.</p>
<p>"Yes, but I am very good at getting in your way," Pidge states with a smug smile as she loops her arms around his neck.</p>
<p>Hunk lets out a defeated sigh. "True, I just need to-"</p>
<p>"Nope. For the rest of the night, anything you need can be done by your capable sous chefs."</p>
<p>"But the turkey needs to be brined," Hunk points out. "And I was going to just throw the cranberry sauce together and get the stuffing-"</p>
<p>Pidge covers his mouth.</p>
<p>"No."</p>
<p>"I can do all that, m'boy," Coran offers from the kitchen table where he is teaching Alfor, Nadia, and Anita how to play rummy with a set of cards they found in the game room. "I was quite the chef in my day. Why, my jello salad made the holidays."</p>
<p>The look Hunk shot Pidge bordered on panic, but she just dismissed it with a defiant smirk.</p>
<p>"See?" she chirps. "All you need to do for the rest of the night is relax."</p>
<p>Keith laughs to himself as he dices bell peppers. They all know the only way Hunk relaxes in the kitchen is if he is doing things himself or learning from a master.</p>
<p>Fortunately for Hunk, Rita del Inclán Alvarez Santiago de Serrano is a master despite having no formal training. She sweeps into the house to a cacophony of delighted greetings. Miguel stands off to the side, content to wait for his children and grandchildren to break away from the flurry of hugs and kisses to come to him. He knows that his wife is a sun whose orbit he was simply lucky enough to get caught in.</p>
<p>"We were just getting dinner on the table," Luis announces with a pointed look at his children that has them scurrying off to set the table.</p>
<p>"It smells delicious, Gordo," Rita fawns. She places a hand on one of Luis's cheeks and presses a kiss onto the other.</p>
<p>Veronica and Axca slip in with bags full of groceries despite Hunk's assurance that they had everything. Keith takes Veronica's to a thankful smile before she goes to greet her siblings.</p>
<p>"How was your flight?" Keith asks as they unload condensed milk and plantains and myriad other groceries he is doubtful will all get used.</p>
<p>"Long," Axca replies. "Is your mother still on assignment?"</p>
<p>Keith nods. "Yemen."</p>
<p>Axca lets out a low, impressed whistle.</p>
<p>They had met in Liberia on a mission with Doctors Without Borders. It didn't take long for them to develop a quiet friendship, especially after Axca discovered Keith's mother was the legendary humanitarian journalist Ana Krolia-Kogane. When they had met up again stateside, Keith and Lance just happened to be living near Veronica for a fated meeting that was as close to love at first sight that Keith had ever seen.</p>
<p>Axca opens the fridge to put away yet more pork and balks.</p>
<p>"Is there a pie for every person?"</p>
<p>Keith laughs. "Welcome to a Hunk Thanksgiving. It's still nothing compared to Eid."</p>
<p>They eat dinner between stories about everyone's lives while the older children chatter in the kitchen. Laughter can be heard at Alfor’s accent when they try to teach him some Spanish. It quickly dies off when he counters by challenging them to pronounce some basic Arabic. Somehow it ends in a game as they ask one another how to say increasingly silly phrases.</p>
<p>Eventually, the conversation turns to parenting as Rita asks about Ada. Pidge shifts partially into research mode, asking about teething and milestones and the other parent’s experiences to compare with her own. The more everyone talks, the more Keith notices a shadow settling over Lance’s polite smile. His hand settles on his husband’s with a comforting squeeze and he starts a side conversation as a distraction.</p>
<p>“Fly anywhere interesting lately?” he prompts Shiro.</p>
<p>“Cairo,” Shiro responds with a grin towards Curtis. “We were actually able to meet up and spend a few days playing tourist.”</p>
<p>“We took a felucca down the Nile,” Curtis adds with an almost sickeningly sweet look at his fiancee.</p>
<p>Despite not knowing Curtis well, Keith was glad Shiro had found someone. After Adam had left him, Shiro had thrown himself so into his work that his friends were concerned he was going to burn himself out. The irony was that his love for his job was why Adam had left him. While Adam had wanted to settle down, Shiro had wanted to continue traveling the world as an international pilot. One day he left after Adam warned him he wouldn’t be there when he returned. Only Shiro had been surprised when he came home to find that Adam had been serious.</p>
<p>Curtis had Shiro’s same wanderlust, though, and didn’t mind a relationship that was mostly long distance. His job as a flight attendant also gave him a better understanding of the life of a pilot than most had.</p>
<p>“I should travel,” Rachel muses wistfully. “Go find myself.”<br/><br/>Keith sees Lance and Veronica exchange amused looks in his peripheral vision.</p>
<p>After dinner, Miguel and Coran exchange stories about 'the good old days' over a game of dominoes while Rita and Hunk disappear into the kitchen. There is a movie that Keith has no interest in seeing that everyone goes to see. Lance stays with him to watch the children while the grandparents and Hunk are busy. </p>
<p>The older children run to the game room downstairs to play ping pong while Cookie gets out a preschool workbook full of letters to trace and basic matching  and counting. Lance helps her with it while Ada scribbles crayons over paper. Keith watches with an ache that is becoming more and more familiar.</p>
<p>He retreats to the organized chaos of the kitchen under the guise of offering to help. As he peels potatoes, he catalogs everything Lance had given up for him. His own home. His own family. They couldn't even have pets because they were never in one place for more than a year.</p>
<p>"Do you regret marrying me?" Keith finally asks later that night while they are getting ready for bed.</p>
<p>Lance frowns around his toothbrush and, yeah, Keith probably should have waited to ask. Part of him is afraid of the answer, though. Afraid that even if Lance says no, Keith will be able to hear the lie in his voice.</p>
<p>The anxiety stretches as Lance spits and rinses. He approaches Keith, who is sitting on the edge of the bed with his fingers twisting into the comforter.</p>
<p>"Never," he says, leaning down to place a kiss to Keith's lips. "Why?"</p>
<p>"You've made so many sacrifices to be with me," Keith murmurs. His vision blurs ever so slightly with threatening tears. "I know you want to be a father and have a house to make a home and-"</p>
<p>Lance cuts him off with another kiss.</p>
<p>"I knew what I was getting into when I married you," he states with the corner if his mouth quirked up in a mischievous grin.</p>
<p>“I love you,” Keith murmurs almost as if it were a revelation rather than the basic truth that it was. The words cause Lance’s grin to grow into an airy laugh.</p>
<p>“I know,” he responds. His hand is warm as it caresses Keith’s cheek, his thumb swiping a tear that had started to fall away. “What brought this on?”</p>
<p>“Just-” Keith starts, stopping himself when his thoughts get snagged on a moment of self-conscious doubt. “You looked sad when everyone was talking about parenting at dinner.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” The mattress dips under Lance’s weight as he sits down. “Yes, I wish I was able to help raise Ada. Hunk and Pidge are amazing parents, though. My daughter is happy and healthy and that's all any parent could want. Plus, wherever you are is home. Nothing is going to change that.” Lance playfully shoulder-bumps Keith. “Face it, man, you’re stuck with me.”</p>
<p>Their eyes met and Keith’s heart felt light. He had never thought he would love anyone so completely, especially not the annoyingly social guy who had flirted with every pretty face their first year of university. They had kept meeting, however, gravitating towards one another like two asteroids destined to become a planet. The friend Keith made in class was Lance's roommate. The volunteer opportunities they took kept aligning. The paths they took to class crossed. It wasn't until Lance started sitting with him in the cafeteria without Hunk or Ina or Matt or any of their shared friend circle that Keith realized they weren't just acquaintances.</p>
<p>Then at one party they collided in a truly spectacular fashion.</p>
<p>Keith leaned forward, kissing Lance like back when they were young and first realizing what love really was.</p>
<p>"I wouldn't have it any other way."</p>
<p>Thanksgiving morning starts with the smell of coffee and bacon. It draws everyone downstairs to where Coran and Miguel have made a large breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, diced potatoes, tostadas, and, of course, cafecito. Both men look incredibly proud of themselves as plates are filled.</p>
<p>"I may not have my wife's talent," Miguel jokes with a hearty laugh, "but I know my way around the kitchen."</p>
<p>After breakfast, anyone who isn't helping to make dinner is chased off so Lance scoops Ada up and takes her to the living room where Nadia and Anita have already turned on the parade. He plops down with his daughter as a band marches across the screen blaring their instruments with perfectly timed flourishes.</p>
<p>"Boo!" Ada exclaims, bouncing happily and clapping her hands. A float with five color coded lions cruises down 34th Street behind the band. At the head of it, the latest pop star stands ready to croon a Christmas classic as the float rolls to a stop.</p>
<p>"And here are those lovable lions from Castle of Lions," the announcer says with a broad smile. "For decades, these five fantastic felines have been encouraging children to become lifelong learners. On board the float-"</p>
<p>"You like Blue?"</p>
<p>Lance remembers watching Castle of Lions growing up. Naturally, it has changed over the years, but Blue's smiling face still stirs up feelings of nostalgia made all the more powerful by Ada's excitement.</p>
<p>"Ahla ma Boo," Ada responds, the idea of words forming from her babbling.</p>
<p>Lance gives her a gentle squeeze. "Yeah, Papi likes Blue, too."</p>
<p>Lunch is light, mostly cruditès, cheese, crackers, and various deli meats since dinner will be early. Somehow Shiro convinces everyone not cooking to go outside afterwards despite the chill in the air. They explore the edge of the lake, the kids picking up leaves that Pidge later shows them how to take rubbings of.</p>
<p>Dinner is served a little before five. In addition to a turkey with perfectly golden brown skin, velvety smooth potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, and a host of other traditional Thanksgiving dishes, there was congri, tostones, mojo pork, and other staples of Cuban cuisine.</p>
<p>"Let's pray," Rita announces.</p>
<p>"Mamá, no," Lance interjects. The Serrano siblings all go a little tense, but Lance remains firm even as his mother tries to stare him down. He is not going to make his non-Christian found family uncomfortable after inviting them to dinner. "Let's do a moment of silent prayer or reflection."</p>
<p>Rita's lips purse even as she nods. Even with her displeasure, though, there is pride as she closes her eyes to pray. Raising a boy into a man who will say such things for the sake of others is a better victory than any argument might win her.</p>
<p>"Do we want to say what we are thankful for?" Axca asks.</p>
<p>Veronica waves the suggestion off.</p>
<p>"Everyone always says friends, family, health, and all of the other same things," she points out. "And I've always hated being put on the spot like that. Marco always ends up saying the most poignant things, anyway, and makes the rest of us look bad."</p>
<p>Axca smirks at her. "Well, I'm thankful to be with someone bold enough to say that."</p>
<p>Veronica playfully scrunches her nose and sticks out her tongue at the woman next to her.</p>
<p>"How about a toast?" Allura suggests.</p>
<p>Before anyone can respond, Keith stands. He looks at the people gathered around the table and feels the acceptance and belonging that can only be described as being home.</p>
<p>"To family who become friends and friends who become family," he says, raising his glass as the rest of the table does the same.</p>
<p>"Here, here," Shiro adds, signaling everyone to clink their glasses and fill their plates.</p>
<p>Lance’s hand finds Keith’s under the table after he sits down. Their eyes meet, the mirrored curves of their lips exchanging unspoken words of love and gratitude. And of all the things they have to be thankful for this year, nothing surpasses that they have each other.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you to everyone who gave me feedback and helped beta. </p>
<p>Comment or message me on Tumblr is you would like to know more about this AU. There were a lot of things that I couldn't work in smoothly.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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